User blog:Pinkguy the b0ss/Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins Review
What's up my Shreks, it's DiamondMinerStudios here, and welcome back to another game review. This time, I'm looking at yet another handheld 2D Mario game. This time, I'm reviewing my first ever game for the original Game Boy - Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins. Let's go. As always, I want to keep development history to a minimum. All you really need to know is that Shigeru Miyamoto had little involvement with this project, and it was instead handled by Nintendo R&D1, the same team that made the Game Boy and also the team where its designer Gunpei Yokoi worked. So, instead of Miyamoto, who was busy with a few SNES projects, this game was directed by Yokoi. Super Mario Land 2 originally came out for the Game Boy in 1992, and became an instant success. Now, 27 years later, how does the game hold up? Does this game deserve to be remembered and spoken of in the same breath as the likes of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, or doesn't it? Let's find out, shall we? Story For a Mario game, the plot is actually rather original. This time around, Mario, returning from his adventure in the first Super Mario Land game, comes back to his home Mario Land. To his shock, a squatter by the name of Wario - Mario's evil doppelganger - has taken over his castle and sealed its door by scattering the six golden coins throughout Mario Land. In order to win back his castle, Mario must travel through the six areas of Mario Land to reclaim the coins, open the door, and defeat Wario. Ah, there we are. Once and for all, a Mario story that isn't "save the Princess from Bowser" again for the nine millionth time. For that, I give this story an automatic pass. Graphics For a Game Boy title, this game looks stunning. The backdrops, sprites, and everything else have a nice detail to them, and despite the lack of color, they're still visually engaging. I'd say this is easily one of if not the best looking game on the system. In addition, there's also a Game Boy Color version (called "Super Mario Land 2 DX") that makes it look even better, with its expanded color pallete. This one might just be the definitive version, but I'll probably be one of the first to tell you that the original Game Boy version still looks pretty good. Soundtrack This has to be one of the best 8-bit soundtracks I've ever heard. Every song is catchy, upbeat, and full of energy. Some of the standout tracks include the Athletic theme, Boss theme, Treetop theme, Seashore theme, Wario's Castle theme, and of course, the Star Maze. Most of these tracks are all remixes of a central melody, which is the exact same thing Super Mario World and Super Mario Sunshine did. It works just as well here as it did there. I actually don't think there's one bad track in this whole OST... I guess except the Invincibility theme, which is just grating, but otherwise, this soundtrack gets a gold star from me. Gameplay Ok, so we're off to a great start so far. Now, is the gameplay of this game just as solid as the visuals and soundtrack? To put it short... Yes, it most definitely is. This game, without a doubt, has some of the most solid gameplay in a Mario game. What really exemplifies this is the incredibly smooth control. They aren't quite as good as the controls of SMB3 and SMW, and they're a bit on the floaty side, but overall Mario still handles exceptionally well in this game. Something else I love is the powerups. The fire flower is just as useful as it was in the console games, but that's not all. There's also an equivalent of the racoon leaf from SMB3 and cape from SMW - the bunny ears. While you can't attack with this powerup, it makes up for that with some excellent platforming capabilities, allowing you to descend extremely slow. This works very well for correcting mistakes or making any tricky jumps, should you come across any. It's one of the best powerups in any Mario game. Yet another great thing is the progression and level design. First of all, I find it kind of amusing that the game's worlds are called "zones." Looks like Mario copied Sonic's homework for this one instead of how it usually is. In addition, in an evolution of the nonlinear progression of Super Mario World, you're able to do the six zones in any order you want. While I prefer more straightforward levels in a 2D platformer, I love it when these games make their progression system more open-ended so you're not required to beat every single level to beat the game, so if you encounter a level you don't like, you can most likely skip it or at least get it out of the way early so you don't have to worry about it later. That's just one of the many reasons why I love this game so much. Anyways, on to the levels themselves. What's great is that every single level in this game does something new, which is exactly what DKC2 did. The variety ranges from your standard platforming affair all the way to avoiding angry stars in outer space. This allows the game to never get repetitive at any point. The levels also have some fairly creative setpieces, even for Mario. If I had any complaints, it would be that the levels are somewhat on the easy side... with one glaring exception, but I'll get to that. Overall, this game is solid and is a blast to play from start to finish. I haven't had this much fun playing a game for a portable system in quite a long time, Mario Advance series and DKC GBA remakes aside. Difficulty As I've just stated, if you were able to make a difficulty scale of every 2D platformer ever made, then Mario Land 2 would fall a bit on the easy side. That doesn't mean the game is fully devoid of challenge, though. Every now and then, a boss or a level will provide at least a mild challenge. The things that come to mind are the bosses of Mario Zone, Macro Zone, and Space Zone, and the Star Maze level in Space Zone. One thing I absolutely need to address, though, is the breadcrumb I dropped in the gameplay section. Let's talk about the "one glaring exception" I mentioned when I said the levels weren't that hard. If any of you reading this have ever beaten this game, you know exactly ''what I'm talking about, but for those who have no idea of what I'm getting at here, allow me to explain. Just like every other Mario game, this game has a final level that serves as a test of the skills you've achieved throughout playing the game. It's not a bad thing, as I've already said that this game is a slight bit too easy, so of course I'd be asking for some more challenge. But not like this. ''Not like this. The final level of this game is by far, no question, one of the absolute hardest and most unfair final levels I've played in any Mario game. For one, there is no checkpoint in the level, meaning if you die, you have to do the whole thing from the beginning again. That's not too uncommon in Mario games of this era, but this level makes it ten times worse with one fact - it's long as hell. There are five sections, and while none of them are all that long, when you have to do them all in one life back to back, it gets pretty fucking long. In addition, you have to do three annoying battles with what I call the "DVD Screensaver Bosses" - balls that bounce of the walls, floor, and ceiling in a pattern similar to the DVD Screensaver. Also, some of the sections of the castle flat-out fucking suck balls. In particular, the area where you have to make jumps on tiny skull platforms over instant-kill lava can seriously eat a fucking dick. You have to make near-pixel-perfect jumps on tiny platforms that are very easy to fall straight through or slip off of. This sounds like you may need to take your time, but you can't since the platforms crumble when you land on them. While I said the controls were great before, this entire level really shows their limitations and was clearly not built with them in mind. All of these things made my first playthrough of this stage an absolute nightmare. ...pant, pant... Whew. Now that I've ranted about that, time to move on. Even though the level itself kind of sucks dick, the final boss battle with Wario is actually pretty good. It's a fairly fun fight where there's three phases, two of which involve Wario using your own powerups against you. Despite it being a bit easy, Wario's battle is still interesting and fun to take on. Too bad I have to slog through that shitshow of a level to fight him, though. One more thing before I wrap this review up - you really want to know another reason I hate the final stage? The game over penalty. If you get a game over, you lose all six golden coins, and have to fight all the bosses again. However, there is a loophole - if you shut the game off before the death animation finishes, you won't lose any lives. Doing it this way is what I'd recommend for newcomers, as the final stage can get pretty brutal. In addition, I would highly recommend you use the bunny ears in the level, because that allows you to cheese the worst sections. However it won't immediately net you a win. There's still plenty of dangers and instant-kill hazards, so watch out. Also, with some memorization and learning, I don't have many issues with this level as I did the first time around. This doesn't make it a good level and I still hate it with a passion, but yeah, just thought I'd mention that. Also, real quick, the Space Zone boss is also bad because the hit detection is very wonky. If you jump on the boss (which is how you damage it), it will more than likely count as a hit on you as well. This makes it next to impossible to beat this boss. It doesn't offend me as much as the final level, though, as it's a two-minute boss fight as opposed to a six-minute-long level. In addition, you can cheese this boss with the fire flower. Still, this is easily the worst boss in this game. But with all of that said, I still love this game more than words can describe. It just so happens that Wario's Castle and the Space Zone Boss are lowpoints in the experience. Conclusion In conclusion, what more can I really say? Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins is simply one of the best Mario games I've ever played. From the great control, creative level design, catchy soundtrack, and nice visuals, this game is a blast to play. Also, despite the comparitively low challenge and the massive difficulty spike of the awful final level, I can't help but say that this is one of my favorite Mario games. And for that, I tip my hat to the developers. Every Mario fan or fan of platformers in general should at least give this game a try once in their lives. Because despite the fact this game is in black and white, plays on a two-inch screen, and can be beaten in under two hours, it truly is awesome. So anyways, time to move forward. The next game I'm probably going to talk about will either be Yoshi's Island or the first Spyro the Dragon game. After that will come reviews of the Crash Bandicoot trilogy, Pac-Man World, Donkey Kong Country 3 GBA, and eventually all versions of Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Land, the Ratchet & Clank trilogy, and Jak & Daxter: Precursor Legacy. Maybe I'll even review Sonic Mega Collection Plus some day, too. Whatever comes next, I can't wait to beat and review another game. Until next time, peace. Category:Blog posts